Want to hear the justification with specific examples if you would humor me. I want to hear proof he has improved his decision making, in game adjustments, recruiting and development? I'm just not seeing what others apparently are.
Serious question to the keep Lebby crowd
- Thread starter Bullldawg78
- Start date
Wait, there's a "Keep Lebby" crowd? Crowd, as in multiple people want to keep him?
Even Bulldawg77 wants him gone.
When Lebby lost Bulldawg77, he lost Middle America. ($1 to LBJ)
I want to keep K1. Whatever that takes, I’m for. If that’s keeping Lebby, keep him.
I don’t think Lebby can pass block.
Agree, but his statement after his surgery said he loved State and wanted to play here not "I love the coach?" Just saying.
They are out there. Its the same ol crowd that: 1) Wanted Jackie to stay on thru 2004 2) Can't fire Croom SECOY 3) Can't rid of Joe who else will take the job? Players won't come here if we keep turning over
There is no guarantee that KT stays and if he does stay (which I hope he does) I don't believe it's contingent on retaining Lebby. The guy wants to do well, stay upright and win. Two of those three the HC has proven he cannot do.
So, we just get all our millionaire boosters, Selmon, and Keenum to sit down with a 19-year-old, they all ask him what he wants for a head coach next year, then do whatever he asks so long as he stays…..based on like, a pinky promise or something?
I don’t think anyone suggesting “do whatever K1 wants” has really thought through the particulars of how ridiculous that would be.
Leb and Taylor are not joined at the hip
All these threads started to yell at the “Keep Lebby Crowd”. Who are you yelling at? The wall?
Maybe it's just a rational take.
I did not want to keep Jackie after 2004. He had lost control of the team and his tenure was over and then we hired Croom. That worked out well didn't it.
I wanted to fire Croom after year 3, but we didn't and it resulted in a smoke and mirrors 2007 season that extended him another season.
We got extremely lucky hiring Leach after Moorhead, but that resulted in a positive.
Firing Lebby would be our 6th coach in 10 17ing years. You might as well throw away 2027 and K1's final season if we do that. The offense is dynamic with him in there healthy, and if we win Vandy and TT- which I think we will- Lebby has improved every season he has been here. Those are the facts.
I've said the same thing. Why in the world would we bring back a bad coach and take the chance KT leaves a month later? That's crazy.
I want K1 as well but if we have to keep Lebby to keep him then let him go. It's not worth it in the long run. We are looking at another losing season. That will be four in a roll with Lebby coaching three of them. Time to make change.
I wonder what percentage of the fanbase actually want Lebby to return? Or better yet….what percentage of the cigar boys want him to return? As that really determines if he returns or not.
Im not advocating for Lebby. I didn't want him to start with but once hired thats our guy. I have tried to be positive about him. But I dont think.he is getting fired at least until next year. We can all demand but unless you are offering a few million you aren't making much difference. I never bought into the offensive genius crap. He was under some good offensive head coaches. That's all
That's what will happen again. We'll have a smoke and mirrors season next year then be terrible in 2028.
The question is, how high can those smoke and mirrors go next year?
I’m on the fence ..I lean to keep him strictly from a money standpoint. If we pay his buy out that’s money we don’t have for the portal and the next guy…so we start behind the 8 ball. I don’t think Lebby is a great or even good coach but I think money is more important than coaching. Nick Saben didn’t win in the pros when the money was even. That said if he doesn’t get rid of Loadholt and the SC staff then he has to go next season. His buyout I believe will be gone or much less and the results will be the same
If KT is good enough to turn what we have now into a playoff team then why wouldn't he do that next season with a new guy? I do get the depressing thought of starting over...again. Regardless of whether we move now or later it is obvious to me that Lebby does not have what it takes to build a successful program. If KT is so good he does carry the team next season to 9 wins then we have to put up with Leb for at least one or maybe two more crappy seasons. It stinks to have to sack a HC with a guy like KT on the team but gotta do it now.
Where do you get 6 coaches in 10 years?
Disregard. That would include the new coach and I guess Trauma erased Arnett from my memory lol
The only legitimate reason to keep Lebby is Mississippi State's constant churn of head coaches will scare off some decent candidates. You could probably add State's low NIL spending compared to the rest of the conference as another turn off to candidates.
So, even though our NIL spending would be probably better than any of the current jobs open right now, it isn't relative to our competition. It's considered a tough job nationally and firing Lebby after an injury laden season makes the fanbase and administration look irrational and impatient.
Now, I think the right candidate can overcome all of State's deficiencies, and it's not like we're demanding to go to the playoffs every year or every other year. However, we've already seen good candidates tell us no thanks in previous coaching searches (Fritz, Chadwell, Sark), so the concerns are real.
So, even though our NIL spending would be probably better than any of the current jobs open right now, it isn't relative to our competition. It's considered a tough job nationally and firing Lebby after an injury laden season makes the fanbase and administration look irrational and impatient.
Now, I think the right candidate can overcome all of State's deficiencies, and it's not like we're demanding to go to the playoffs every year or every other year. However, we've already seen good candidates tell us no thanks in previous coaching searches (Fritz, Chadwell, Sark), so the concerns are real.
If we lose to Vandy and Auburn the calls for firing are going to be loud, even if they are non-sensical. Then the Egg Bowl, even though it's in Oxford and they are better - fans will emotionally react.
I too think keeping him would be the lesser of all the evils, but he's also got to do something positive this month. If we simply take 2 home losses, squeak by FCS, and get destroyed in Oxford, I just don't see how there is any morale left on this team to take into next season.
Really the only reason to keep him is if Kamario Taylor gives us an ultimatum. And I’m not even sure that’s good enough reason to keep him. Someone said doomsday scenario is we keep Lebby to keep Kamario, win 8 games next year, then go 4-8 in 2028.
Maybe but those buckets are being filled from the same spigot. It’s kinda like at my house, we have our money and the wife has her money but it’s all coming from the same two paychecks.
That’s exactly what will happen if Lebby stays. He isn’t going to get the supporting players around KT to improve and he isn’t going to upgrade coaches. He literally has no idea what he’s doing and neither do our university leaders and boosters.
And 4-8 after Kamario leaves is very very generous. Our only selling point with portal guys right now is come play with Kamario. What do you think it will be when he leaves? Come play with McWhorter and Puckett or some other undersized non-mobile qb
I know there is a sentiment that KT1 is attached to Lebby and that may 100% be true, but I honestly think he and/or his handlers have to be looking at Lebbby's results and be seriously questioning if he can build a proper team around KT1. Can he be trusted to be protected/ can the team around him showcase his full potential? Maybe the version we saw the first 4 games is less than what he can do with better pieces around him. I think he truly wants to stay with MSU, and I think we will pay what it takes, but I bet even KT1 has at least considered that we may be better with a new coach. Obviously, we would have to have "the right guy" in place before we pull the trigger. This can't be one of these situations where we fire and THEN start hoping for a good hire. As much as I am convinced Lebby needs to go, if we can't pick off a quality coach to showcase KT's skills and build a roster then we will have to sit tight for a few more years.
Not sure I'd call that doomsday, I'd just call it another day in the life of MSU football.
Im not saying to keep him. I honestly dont think he is very smart tho. At the same time coaching hires are always a crap shoot. Who knows what we will get and then its back to " wait until he gets his players recruited here ". I just didn't see where his successes were really of his creation. I want a guy that is running the show with success. I dont care at what level. All this SEC coach talk is baloney. Kinne could not have been any worse. Cignetti, Sumrall, Candle, etc. Dude from Liberty I wanted
KT won't make it through next season either without a serious upgrade in the OL. Does anyone seriously think that will happen next season or the season after with Lebby?
I do firmly believe that with K1 next year, healthy all year, we could win 9 or 10 and Lebby get extended and then when Brodie McWhorter takes over Lebby tanks the season. If Brodie was next up, imo he would be next up Saturday instead of behind a walk on
Eh… we have a slush fund that was left to us ear marked for coaching hires and firings. It’s allowed us to be more aggressive in the firing part over the years. It was also given to us before NIL.
I'm on the fence. The injuries are problematic and unfortunate.
The roster issues are definitely on him.
What coaching decisions, this year, have been egregious? Maybe I've just zoned out after we're down multiple scores the past moth.
While I do enjoy the first half of a decent cigar, I don't have money to move the needle.
The roster issues are definitely on him.
What coaching decisions, this year, have been egregious? Maybe I've just zoned out after we're down multiple scores the past moth.
While I do enjoy the first half of a decent cigar, I don't have money to move the needle.
Last edited:
No, those are not, in fact, facts. We have not yet beaten Vandy and TT.
If we do beat them, you must also keep in mind that the only reason we went 4-0 was because of KT, despite the junk of a team that KT propped up by himself until he got hurt multiple times.
(1) His side of the ball is effective with a competent QB and an adequate OL. We didn't have an adequate OL last year. We don't have a competent QB now. But while KT was playing great before he got injured, what he gave us was not something unattainable for us.
(2) Lebby has done a bad job, no doubt about that. He completely 17ed us for the first two years by arrogantly hiring a DC with no experience, as if his own learning curve wasn't going to be a big enough hurdle. And he's not as good as he should be. But he has improved. Our team should not be this bad with injuries, and that's on him for not managing the roster better, but we did have a good team. Arnett did what he could with a lack of talent before injuries and lack of help from offense just wore that side down. But what's done is done. THe question is how likely are we to improve on Lebby next year and how many millions are we willing to spend taking that chance? I think the money would be better spent paying for players rather than rolling the dice on a new coach. If KT is healthy, everybody is ready to extend him right now. Not sure one player's health should be the difference between getting an extension versus firing.
(3) If we beat Vandy and ETSU, we'll have 6 wins. Three of those wins are going to be pretty good wins (Minnesota, Missouri, USCe). That will mean he again improved his results, even if it's still incredibly disappointing in some ways. And again, we're basically one injury away from being thrilled with this season. I just don't know that you spend millions of dollars to fire a coach that is still improving, even if it's disappointingly slow improvement.
If we don't beat Vandy and ETSU, then yes, you fire him. But sometimes you have to just take your medicine. He's not the best coach we could have hired. I just don't think we're at the point that it's a good use of money to spend millions that could go to upgrading talent when we have a coach that has shown he can win when he has talent, unless we have a pretty good idea of who we are going to replace him with. Haven't paid attention to the coaching hot board, but based on how hard teams have been reaching the last couple of cycles, I am expecting we will be reaching for another OC or lower level HC that doesn't really have the track record to make us confident it will be better.
1.Not starting Swann against LSU and OK. ( I don't believe the injury BS).
2. I thought the LSU game was so mishandled. It probably wouldn't have mattered, but we should have kicked on the first drive which would have made the decison to kick before half easy. Then, assuming we made those we would have kicked the next two which would have had us within striking distance.
3. Decisions about when to go for it on 4th still puzzle me.
4. Choosing to receive every game just because its his "thing". There is a reason coaches defer... he's not smarter than all of them. This week we finally deferred and were it not for the pick 6 it would have been the perfect decision.
2. I thought the LSU game was so mishandled. It probably wouldn't have mattered, but we should have kicked on the first drive which would have made the decison to kick before half easy. Then, assuming we made those we would have kicked the next two which would have had us within striking distance.
3. Decisions about when to go for it on 4th still puzzle me.
4. Choosing to receive every game just because its his "thing". There is a reason coaches defer... he's not smarter than all of them. This week we finally deferred and were it not for the pick 6 it would have been the perfect decision.
I assume KT has smart enough people around him to consider the fact that Lebby and Loadholt will just get him hurt again (so why stay?)
I might be in the minority here but if K1 dips because Lebby gone then 17 it let him go. I'd rather get someone in here and start the rebuild rather and keep kicking the dead horse down the road
Latest
-
01
Maroon and White Basketball
"Adjust on the fly": Mississippi State HC Chris Jans speaks on opening night win
-
02
Maroon and White Basketball
Mississippi State 106-88 Tennessee Tech: Hubbard and Grace lead the way in high-scoring opener
-
03
Maroon and White
Points of Focus: Lebby speaks on offensive reworking ahead of Vanderbilt week
-
04
Maroon and White Football
Mississippi State QB Room update: Reps all around
-
05
Maroon and White Football
Everything Mississippi State HC Jeff Lebby said in Week 10 Monday presser